The Howard Zinnification of the American school system

Recently, the talentless Queen Latifah had on her show some indoctrinated youths recite a poem* about how America is all about oppression and stuff under the guise of “teaching teen lit[erature] through poetry.”

*By “poem” I mean an incoherent pseudo-rhythmic rant.

There is so much idiocy here that it would be simpler to just refer back to the “literary source” of Howard Zinn’s fictionalized “A People’s History of the United States”.

A little brief fisking of the idiocy:

They rant about how the state censors “Catcher in the Rye” but somehow has never banned guns. Obviously it is contra-reality. Plenty of guns have been banned, and schools are still almost always “gun free zones.” In contrast, not teaching drivel like “Catcher in the Rye” is not the same as banning the existence of the book, even if the school library chooses not to carry that book. There hasn’t been a serious attempt to ban the publication of a book for the better part of a century. These idjit youths know nothing of actual banning of “Catcher in the Rye” aside from what they’ve been indoctrinated to believe.

Further, “To Kill a Mockingbird” can be bought legally for a couple of dollars at Amazon, and can even be found for free online. Again, no one has seriously tried to ban the publication of the book. A school choosing not to carry it in its library or teach it in class is hardly censorship. While the KKK has a webpage, so do the Black Panthers and the Nation of Islam. The bringing up of the KKK is an attempt to make it seem that evil schools (controlled by evil White people) are going out of their way to censor and oppress ignorant youths as part of some intentional insidious plot.

And Maya Angelou? She is a hack. She shouldn’t be taught because she’s a horrible “poet.” As for teaching “literature” that involves rape, perhaps the schools just believe that there is plenty of quality literature that doesn’t involve rape, and that that material might be better suited for education underaged youths?

Also, apparently shopping malls are build on the bones of non-White people. Kinda like poltergeist. Japanese internment camps are as evil as the trans-continental railroad? I’m pretty sure both are generally taught in schools (certainly taught more than the Rape of Nanking).

Thereafter they go into a rant about how schools punish poor kids who have to flip-burgers by rewarding elite (and presumably White) students with attendance awards, while oppressing non-Whites by somehow getting them concerned with picking out a prom dress…

And, what “spoken word” rant would be incomplete with defending “ghetto” culture and the inability to speak English properly. Demonization of “ghetto culture” and bad English is not oppressing people. It is the “ghetto culture” and bad Enlish that is holding youths back.

True to “Social Justice Warrior” fashion, they rant about shaming fat kids while “preppie girls” live a rich elite existence while stepping on the oppressed because society is “classist” and “racist” and stuff. Oh, and apparently all make teachers support rape while beating lesbians.

To summarize my feeling on this rant:

The saddest thing is that this rant is considered “poety”. Couldn’t they have at least sung their indoctrinated idiocy?

Or at least learn to give a decent speech in support of their delusional ideas?

It is the lack of artistic merit that is perhaps the most infuriating thing of all.

N.B. The title was taken from a comment by “MikeInCA” at Legal Insurrection.